The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth
by Theuglyduckling492
Summary: The 188 Hunger Games. Crystal Baker (District 1) has never met anyone her age, so going into the Hunger Games is even more of a shock than usual. Anyone from the same district can come home and she thinks she loves one of her district partners. What will happen in these Hunger Games? Does anyone ever leave the arena?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or the title of this fan fiction (a quote by William Shakespeare).**

Just an overview, this is the 188th Hunger Games. The rebellion was lost. The 76th Hunger Games was fought completely to the death, there was no victor. After that, the tributes from the same district could come home together like in the 74th Games, but without any tricks at the end.

District 12 was rebuilt, but there were more peacekeepers and the fence was repaired. The living situation in the districts in better, almost a happy place other than the Games. That way, the capital could keep a safe distance from another rebellion, but they wouldn't have to worry about the districts demanding more and more supplies.

One last thing. Now, there's a girl's bowl, a boy's bowl, and a neutral bowl. Everyone puts their name in however many times they need to. One slip for every child goes into the neutral bowl, any others go in the bowl for their gender. Ex: girl puts in 7, 1 goes in neutral, 6 go in girl's bowl. boy has 1 slip, the one goes in the neutral, none in boy's bowl. If a person is drawn from their gender bowl, then drawn from the neutral bowl, there will be a redrawing in the neutral bowl.

If you don't understand, PM me with questions and I can explain it to you.


	2. And so it begins

**Hi! This is where the actual story begins and I hope you enjoy it.**

Crystal Baker POV:

I opened my eyes and looked at my ceiling. It was covered with glow in the dark stars. It was morning, so they didn't glow. When I turned eighteen, my father offered to help take them down, but I decided to keep them. They remind me of myself. Stuck around people too old.

My parents are possibly the youngest people I know. I live in the part of District 1 where people go to retire, but my parents work at the retirement home, so I live here too. All the schools are on the opposite side of the district, so I'm homeschooled. The issue is that my parents work, so the only time they have time to teach me is when they're home, which changes weekly.

Most of the time, I'm home alone, so I had to find something to occupy me. I ended up convincing my mother to set aside a piece of land for me to have a garden. I grow a lot of flowers on half and the other half is just clover. The only place you can usually find me is sitting in that patch of clover reading a book.

But not today. Nope, today is Reaping Day. I've read all the books in the house and one is a history report. It says that there was a rebellion a little over a hundred years ago. I wish we had won. We wouldn't be stuck with these rotten Hunger Games. This is my last one. No more worrying about my name being called, nothing but my garden and my books.

I crawl out of bed and get dressed. I wear something nice, but I don't care that much what it is. I look in the mirror. My long, dark brown hair falls in waves to my middle back. My hazel eyes glitter back at me through the reflection. My year round tan skin is tan as ever. Some people say I'm beautiful. Maybe I am, but the only people who have told me this are my parents and a bunch of senior citizens.

District 1's reaping is first, so I scarf down a piece of toast and join my parents on the way to the reaping. I take a look at my garden as we walk past, deciding that I need to add some Marigolds to brighten the colors.

At the registering tables, my parents and I separate. I go over to get my finger pricked and go to the eighteen year old girl section. People shoot questioning looks at me as always. They don't know me. I barely ever come to the center of the district and people obviously don't know me from school. Well I know me. And I'm fine with laying low.

Our escort, Mari, steps to the podium. "Happy Hunger Games!" she squeals, "I'm so excited to be here District 1!" She heads over to the bowl of girl's names. "Ladies first! And our lovely lady is... Crystal Baker!" I freeze for a second. Everyone looks around. They don't know who I am. I take a deep breath as the peacekeepers come forward. I shake my head at them, indicating that I'm fine, that I'm going. I calmly walk to the stage.

Mari squeals at the sight of me. "Goodness! We have a girl living up to the District 1 stereotype... beautiful!" I blush, but notice that she leaves a dramatic pause before everything.

Mari moves to the boys bowl and draws a slip of paper. "Ares Killian." A boy in the eighteen-year old section bravely walked up. "And handsome too!" Mari squeals.

Finally, Mari draws a slip from the neutral bowl, "Vincent Falkner." Another boy from the eighteen year old section steps up to the stage. Mari lets out one final squeal, then we all shake hands and head to town hall.

**Who else is really excited for Catching Fire? -Theuglyduckling492**


	3. A new experience

**Thanks you whoever my first viewer is! I want to get you to the good part, so I'll go ahead and give you this.**

My parents open the door to my room. "We should have prepared you for this! I thought for sure someone would volunteer..." my father rants. My mother and I sit together just listening because we know he has to get it out of his system. When the peacekeepers come in, I give them one final hug and wave goodbye. I don't make any promises about coming home, but maybe Vincent and Ares can help me. We can all come home after all.

On the other hand, if I'm not helpful to them, they might not ally with me. It's not like they know me. Tributes have refused to ally with their district tributes before. I'll just have to find a skill. I did have a relative way back who was in the Hunger Games. She had been really good at throwing knives, but she didn't win.

I'm lead to the train station where there are a billion more cameras. I try my best to look brave, because I know no one will believe me if I try to look weak. I get on our luxurious train. Mari, Vincent, and Ares sit there as well as a man who I recognize as one of our past victors. His name is something like Lawrence, Lance, Lee... "Hi," he says, "I'm Liam Horace." I manage a weak smile. He's twenty five-ish and has an overpowering kind of personality.

"Nice to meet you," I say, "My name's Crystal." "I assume you know Vincent and Ares. They seem about your age," Liam continues. "No actually," I say, "I'm home schooled. I live across the district from everyone. My parents were the youngest people I knew until today." "Really?" Vincent joins in, "You're the kind of girl who catches a person's eye. I'm surprised I haven't ever noticed you around the district." "Well I'm never really around the square or anything," I say.

As we speak, I take in their appearances. Liam is tall with dark brown hair and a dark brown beard. He's really gruff looking, but his pale blue eyes have a spark of a kind personality. Ares is tall with bright blue eyes. His hair is pale blond, almost white. His features sharpen in just the right places, matching the compliment Mari gave him earlier. Vincent is shorter. He has red gold hair that's straight except for one little curl at the side of his forehead. Ares is obviously the more attractive one, but I'm more drawn to Vincent. There's something in his eyes, something that's trying to tell me something... "Crystal?" Vincent says, snapping me out of my reverie, "What are you looking at?" "Oh," I say, "Just looking at the train car."

We continue talking, sharing who we are, where in the district we come from. It turns out that Vincent and Ares don't know each other. They don't live near each other or have the same classes, so they're about as isolated as me. Here anyway. They do have friends back home.

Soon, lunch is served and we go to our rooms to check them out. We spend most of the time chatting about life. That evening after we all head to bed, I hear a knock at my door. I open it expecting to see an Avox or Mari. But there stands Vincent. "Sorry if I woke you up," he whispers, "But I have to ask you something."

My heart begins to race. I can't explain why. I've never felt like this before, but my giddiness prevents me from doing anything other than letting him in to sit on one of the plush capital chairs. "So what's on your mind?" I ask.

"I've been worried about the games. I mean, I've trained my whole life and I was planning on volunteering this year anyway, but I feel like I need some strategy."

"Oh," I say. I feel a wave of disappointment wash over me.

"So I figure we ally with Ares. That way, maybe we can all come home."

"Vincent," I start.

"So what do you think Crystal?"

"I like it, but-"

"Good, so we can ally with the other careers and-"

"Vincent! Don't you think it's a little early to plan? And don't we need Ares anyway?"

"Well, we do, but I was hoping we could talk just between us. I thought you wanted to."

"I do, but I don't want to talk about strategy. We've been put in an awful situation and I don't want to think about it more than I have to. I want to talk to you about things like you, not the Games."

Vincent comes over to sit next to me on the bed. He runs his fingers through a lock of my hair and a feel a jolt of excitement followed by goosebumps even though it's warm in my room.

"Crystal, I really like you and that's why I'm strategizing. I want us to be able to come home together."

"Okay," I murmur.

"I guess we should be off to bed then," Vincent says. He kisses my forehead and walks out the door.

"Wait!" I frantically whisper.

"Yeah?" he asks.

"Don't tell anyone you came in here," I warn.

"Of course not. This is our little secret."

As he walks away, I stare after him. I crawl under the covers and think about how, since it's the first time I've met anyone I'm not related to under sixty, it went _really_ well.

Vincent's face swims around my mind while I fall asleep and I dream of being home again with him by my side.

**Check out my poll about the Hunger Games. -Theuglyduckling492**


	4. Chariots

Mari knocks on my door really early in the morning. _Really _early. We have to wake up because we're arriving in the capital.

"I'm up!" I yell to shut her up. I hear her high heeled shoes scurry away. I step into the shower and press buttons that give me warm water, berry shampoo, wisteria body wash, and a soft sponge. It's such a perfect shower that I feel quite optimistic as I head to breakfast.

I wave to Ares and smile at Vincent as I prepare my plate. Everyone appears to be tired and grumpy, but I'm kind of excited. I know the Games are nothing to be excited about, but there's something about going to the capital that hits a nerve. The amazing buildings and crazy people will lighten my moods for sure! And hopefully everyone else's.

Once I finish eating, I play with a little with my necklace. It's my district token, gold with a tiny locket containing a picture of my parents and me sitting in my garden. Ares notices and walks over. "What's that?" he asks. I say, "It's my district token, a locket from my mother." "It's really pretty... like you," Ares says. He walks to one of the windows.

I look over at Vincent. He's glaring at Ares. I suppress a giggle; obviously someone's jealous. I sit on the couch in the conjoining sitting room. Vincent walks over and sits with me. He starts playing with my hair and Ares glares over at him. I imagine what Ares would do if he knew about last night.

Mari walks over to join us. We spend the last twenty minutes of the train listening to her gush about the capital. When the outside gets dark, I'm relieved. We're almost at the capital.

I look out the window at the candy colored buildings. The crazy people are staring and pointing at our tribute train. I wave. The citizens screech and look excited. One of them faints.

It's so heartwarming that they want to see us die.

The crowds disappear as we pull into the station, but there are even more paparazzi. I seem to be a people person, which is weird considering I don't really talk to anyone.

Mari leads us to the Remake Center. My stylist waits inside. She introduces herself as Aliana. My prep team stands behind her like a squad of puppies ready to do her bidding. I get weirder the closer to the Games I get.

Soon all my precious grime, dirt, and hair is stripped from my body. I miss it. "Sorry," a member of my prep team, Foir, says, "I know it hurts, we're almost done." "No," I say jokingly, "I'll just miss it." My prep team stares at me. "It's a joke," I say. All of them break into nervous, little capital giggles. I sigh. This is not going to be fun.

Aliana comes in to inspect me. "That's a good start, but we'll need to do her face makeup, hair, dress, and a little body makeup." How hard can this be? Surely cleaning me was enough? At least the hard part's over.

An hour later, I miss the waxing. My body is still numb from it, but at least now it wouldn't hurt as badly. The hair and makeup wasn't bad, but Aliana has decided to add body glitter to every inch of me not covered in costume. I even have jewel studs in the crook of my arm. My costume is turquoise with little dark green jewels studding the torso. The jewels obviously match my arm jewels. I'm given a necklace and earrings, again with the green jewels. I imagine how stupid I must look and dread the moment Vincent sees me.

I step in front of the mirror and hope I look recognizable. I do and there's something about the costume that makes me look, well, gorgeous. The green brings out the green in my hazel eyes and my hair continues to bring out the brown, creating an amazing display. The dress fits all my curves perfectly, hugging my body in just the right way. I look in a way irresistible but also magnificent and overpowering. I have a quick daydream of stepping out and receiving a victor's crown, but I snap out of it quickly. I'll have to work for that.

"So do you like it?" Aliana asks. "I love it!" I respond. Mari rushes in. "Are you almost ready? People are lining up for the-" she stops, "You look stunning Crystal!" I blush, "Thanks Mari." She leads me to the chariots where most of the tributes are already gathering. Everyone stops what they're doing as I walk by. They all stare at me and I find myself blushing again.

Vincent and Ares are waiting at our chariot for me. They're wearing something similar to my dress but for boys. Mari and our stylists arrange us on the chariot. Vincent stands on my left and Ares on my right. The stylists tell us to hold hands like the other tributes. All the district tributes are united with each other, but I can't help notice Vincent's glare at Ares when they take my hands.

The huge doors open and our silver horses start to walk forward. The moment the crowd sees us, excited screams meet the air. I let go of Vincent's hand to wave, but he grabs it back. I try with the hand Ares is gripping, but he does the same as Vincent. Slightly frustrated, I resolve to just smile at the crowd.

After all the chariots have circled, the president has made her speech, and we get inside, I expect the boys to release my hands, but they don't. It's only when the stylists and prep team crowd around us that I manage to get away.

I end up in an elevator with the District 9 girl. We end up the only ones there. Luckily, since I'm only on floor 1, we don't have to stand there awkwardly for too long, but even the short ride is uncomfortable. I give her a small wave as I step off, but she continues to stare at the wall. Fine, be weird.

I walk to the sitting room, so I can watch the rerun. Aliana, Ares, and Ares' stylist. Mari walks in with Vincent and his stylist. Vincent scowls at Ares. Ares ignores him. I put my face in my hands. My parents always said girls were the difficult ones. Not that I would ever know. That's why I have to go home. I loved my life, but now I know how interesting it is to know people my own age. Even if they are a bit weird.

After the reruns, I head to my room. I really don't want to talk to anyone. I just want my mom to be here and tell me what to do about a bunch of out of control boys. There's a knock at my door. '_No!'_ I think, '_Not again.'_ I crawl under the pillows and hope whoever it is will think I'm asleep.

I hear the door creak open. This is kind of like a horror movie. I smile to myself, but remember what I'm being forced into is a horror story in itself. Someone sits on my bed, shifting the mattress. I pull the pillow off my head, "What? What could you possibly need?" My voice comes out a little too frustrated and mean, but I'm beyond feeling bad.

Before Vincent can answer, I start sobbing. He's quiet for a minute. Then he crawls over to join me. I began to speak, having to take breaks to release my sobs, "It's just that I don't really know anyone my age...Until the Games... and...I'm never away from home...and I'm homesick... and all of a sudden...I'm being thrown into the... arena...and you and Ares..." "What about me?" Ares asks. My head shoots up. Of course they'd come together and try to weaken me like this. This is all strategy. I can't let them know that I know. "Why are you both here? And why wouldn't you let go of my hands during the ceremony?"

"We're here because we knew you were upset and we wanted to make you feel better," Ares said. "It was my idea," Vincent cuts in. "This is what I mean," I moan, "Why are you so flirty or whatever?" "Maybe it's just my nature," Ares says, "I actually have a girlfriend back home." I laugh. "I actually like you though," Vincent says. "But we're going into a tough place," I warn, "We'll have to watch out so we can all go home together."

"Whatever it takes, we'll make it home," I whisper as they both pull me into a huge hug. "33 tributes to go," Ares says. "Still got to make it through training," Vincent says. "And the Games," I murmur. "So all our fighting is over. From here on out, we're allies," Vincent says. They leave to go back to their rooms and I can't help feeling reassured. I can really make it home. And maybe with my new best friend and my new lover.

**Do you like this length? Review to tell me what you think! -Theuglyduckling492**


	5. Training Day 1

**Hello again! I know I'm updating a lot, so tell me if you like the fast updating or if you'd rather a little more suspense. **

I wake up before Mari comes to knock. I can't figure out why, I'm way overtired. Brains can be stupid sometimes but helpful.

I take a shower then go to get dressed. Someone's put an outfit on the bed for me. Oh yeah. First day of training.

After breakfast, we head to the training room. When we get there, I'm awestruck. The room is gigantic and almost all of the stations have weapons or something that has to do with killing. I know I'm older than a lot of the tributes and I'm a career, but this all has a huge effect on me. I think it's the whole we're-all-just-innocent-children thing. I mean, Come on! A week ago if you had told me I was going to the Hunger Games, I wouldn't believe you.

The training center lady starts telling us all the rules of the training room. As soon as she finishes, I head to the knife station. I'm the first one there, so I have my pick. I choose a medium sized knife and aim at a target. Bull's Eye. I think for a moment to decide if I should keep going. Right now people might assume it's beginner's luck. I could always fake being bad. But no, I'm a career. I have to prove I'm worth keeping.

I try a bunch of different knives and targets, getting a Bull's Eye on every one. My best is something that looks like a butcher knife lodging itself into the farthest target. I'm kind of getting into this. I would even go as far to say that it's fun. That thought makes me shiver. I'm a lunatic. I'm losing my mind. No, but I'm not. I'm not practicing on people after all. A little voice in my mind tells me that I will be soon. I choose to ignore that and move to a different station.

By lunch, I've still only been to two stations. Knives and plant recognition. I'm turning out to be pretty good at recognizing plants. Sometimes being a career seems to limit me.

I sit down at a table with Ares and Vincent. We're halfway through eating when the boy from District 4 walks over. He invites us to sit with the rest of District 4 and District 2. We walk over and bond really well. I know only one district can get out of this, but I'm really happy to be with my allies. There are six boys and three girls overall including me. From District 2, there's Allison, Amiens, and Sheen; and from District 4 there's Cliff, Fiona, and Nick. All of us are seventeen and eighteen.

I see the girl from 9 glare at me. What did I ever do to her? It's not like she even looked at me in the elevator.

The rest of training that day is uneventful, but I can't help feeling reassured that I have an alliance.

**Press that sexy review button down there -Theuglyduckling492**


	6. Fabio

**Hi everybody! Nobody has actually viewed my previous chapter yet, but I promise, it gets even better as the story goes on. So please follow/favorite the story or me. I love everyone who sticks with me this far, so enjoy...**

A couple more days into training, Allison, Fiona, and I are laughing and talking as we make really lousy snares. A boy sits next to us with his own snare, way more successful than us. Suddenly, he turns around to face us and ask, "Can I join the careers?" This takes us aback. It's unusual that a tribute wants to ally with people not from their district, especially because they can all come home. This gets me thinking about tricks, so I ask cautiously, "Just you?" "Yeah," he says. "What about your district mates?" Fiona asks.

"They're really weak and I wouldn't be able to survive while I'm lugging them around." That makes me feel a little awkward, because I might qualify as weak in his opinion. The girls from his district are about fifteen and not that bad at archery, which is where they are now.

"We'll have to talk about it as a whole group," Fiona says. "And you'll have to prove you're useful," Allison adds. "I know you have to talk with the rest of the careers, but I'm good at snares and spears," the boy says hopefully.

"We'll need to know your name though," I say. "I'm Fabio, eighteen years old, District 10," Fabio says. His sudden overly formal greeting surprises me. I feel a little wary of him.

At lunch we mention Fabio to the boys. They look over at him. "He looks strong, but we'll have to see if he's worth keeping," Cliff says. "I don't like the way he came up to just you girls," Amiens says, "If he joins us, we'll have to keep an eye on him." I laugh, "We'll have to keep a closer eye on him if he doesn't join." We all start laughing. I love it when we laugh. It makes me feel like I'm finally in school with a bunch of kids my age without such a grave thing hanging over our heads.

We begin to watch Fabio at training as we go to our various activities. He's good at snares as we already know, but he's really good at spears. I mean like scarily, I don't want to be against him, even with my knives.

The next day we tell Fabio he can join the careers. He starts sitting with us at lunch and I like him now. He's fun to be with, another person to keep or minds off what we're going into.

**I know this is a pretty short chapter, but review to tell me what you think! -Theuglyduckling492**


	7. Bull's Eye

**Let me just say that I don't recommend skipping chapters. Do whatever you want, you're the one reading, but it might get a bit confusing. **

Training goes by really quickly after that. It's almost scary how fast time is going now. I'm going into the arena in three days.

Today we have private sessions with the game makers. I have the privilege of going second (boy, girl, neutral). Ares goes into the training room, leaving the rest of us careers to talk while we wait. "What are you guys doing?" Nick asks. "I might do a little archery, throw some spears," Allison begins. My name is called, so I get up and go to the training room.

All of the game makers are staring intently at me, ready to see what I can do. I'm relieved I get to go so soon, they'll probably get bored around tribute 15.

I walk over to the rack of are about fifteen different sizes, so I grab a bag and stuff them all in. I sling the bag over my shoulder and head to the rope course for climbing. I climb to the highest point and get out the smallest knife. I throw it at a target and hit the Bulls Eye. I move up in knife sizes until I hold the familiar butcher knife. I hold it and throw the sack down. I crawl along the course with my knife in hand. I find a dummy the size of a person. I hurl the knife toward it. It hits the dummy right between the eyes. I crawl down and the game makers tell me I can leave.

When I get to our floor, Mari, the stylists, Liam, and Ares are talking about Ares' session. When he finishes, I tell them about mine. Vincent comes in right after I finish talking and he tells us about his. Because we're District 1, we'll have to wait a while for the scores to be revealed, so we talk about what our allies must be doing.

After a few more hours, we eat dinner. The TV turns on in the other room, so we leave the table to see the scores. Florence Amalia comes on and talks a little about the training and the scores. Ares' face pops up with a flashing 8. Before we can say anything, my face pops up with a flashing 10. A 10! Vincent then pops up with a flashing 9. The rest of the careers and Fabio get somewhere between an 8 and a 10. The District 9 girl gets a 3. What's wrong with her?

We say our good nights and head to bed. I'm excited about my 10. I can win.

**Don't forget to tell me what you think! -Theuglyduckling492**


	8. One Thousand and One Questions

**I'm so excited about Catching Fire. Have any of you seen the trailer? I had to rewatch The Hunger Games after I saw the trailer, it made me so excited!**

Mari pounds on my door. I open my bleary eyes and crawl out of bed. Today is the day of my interview. My prep team is there immediately. They begin to clean me and wax me and beautify me in painful ways. They let me wear normal clothes to breakfast, but as soon as I come back, they force me to get undressed again, so they can continue their work.

In another few hours, I'm ready for Aliana to see me. She comes in and does my hair. She makes it intricate but recognizable. The locks fall in curls around my shoulders and she adds lavender jewels to bring out the dark brown of my hair that is so unusual for District 1. My dress in lavender to match the jewels in my hair and my shoes are lavender sandals that lace up to my mid-calves.

When I take my seat behind the stage, I remember that for this, I have to go first. Me, then Ares, then Vincent. I feel uncomfortable not being next to both the boys from my district and I look forward to going back to my soft bed without all the capital people watching to see what I'll say about killing and dying.

Florence begins to talk to the audience. I tune out but my name catches my attention. "And now let's hear from Crystal Baker!" I shakily stand up. My palms are already sweating and I feel shocked at my nervousness. Florence is a really cheerful person and nothing I say will matter. I'm going into the arena, I already have an alliance, and what capital citizen doesn't like a good career?

I walk onto the stage and smile at the numerous capital citizens who spent both my parents' yearly salary to get here, to see me answer a bunch of ridiculous questions. "Hello, Crystal," Florence greets me.

"Hello, Florence."

"You've got a brilliant dress on, why don't you tell us about it?"

"My amazing stylist, Aliana, made it. I absolutely love it! As you might know, it's rare to have dark hair in District 1, and the gems really bring out the rarity in my hair. I love being unique."

"Winning the Hunger Games would make you unique. Do you have any strategy planned?"

"Well, Florence, I'm obviously going to be a career. And let's just say that I have a skill worthy of the career pack."

"What's this skill?"

"You'll just have to wait and see what I can do. But if you sponsor me, you can keep me alive and maybe see more of it." There. That should get me something.

"Spoken like a victor. And I'm sure I speak on behalf of Panem that we'd like to see this amazing skill."

"And I would love to have the honor of another interview with you, Florence."

She laughs. "You flatter me."

The buzzer goes off. I walk back to my seat. "Let's hear it for Crystal Baker!" Florence's voice carries over backstage where the tribute chairs are. "And our next tribute is Ares Killian." Ares walks on stage. I scoot over a chair and lay my head on Vincent's shoulder. I need a little extra energy. Just thinking about the Games worries me. I'm not the usual bloodthirsty, trained-since-they-were-born career.

Ares finishes, so I scoot back over and let Vincent take his turn. The interviews finish much faster than I thought they would. When we go back to our rooms, Aliana helps me get the jewels out of my hair and I strip off the dress. I put on a pair of comfortable capital pajamas for what could be the last time. My eyes flutter closed in a really feminine way and I wonder if I'll ever get out of this. Will I ever get married? Will I ever have kids? Will I ever see District 1 again? Will I go home with Vincent and Ares? Too many grave thoughts fill my mind as I fall asleep. I shouldn't be here. Why am I here?

**-Theuglyduckling492**


	9. Let the Games Begin!

**Check out my Cato/Clove fanfic!**

A knock sounds at my door, really familiar by now but way too early. I look at the clock. 4:30! Why do we have to go to the arena so early? Why have I had so many questions lately? I get in the shower and wash really well. This might be my last time to shower. While I dry off, I notice the tears streaming down my face. I don't really care. I'm going into the arena. Nobody from the capital would really understand.

During breakfast, Mari goes on about how many sponsors we have now, because of my little speech last night, but I'm not really listening. My body doesn't turn on until at least six.

We go into the hovercraft where the other tributes seem just as tired and confused as I am. We must be going pretty far away to have to wake up so early. Vincent sits beside me and I have Allison on my other side. I'm glad I'm nowhere near the District 9 girl. I wonder what her name is. It's really easy to wonder about things you might not live to find out.

After what feels like six hours, the hovercraft windows darken. Soon, the hovercraft stops and our stylists lead us into our individual launch rooms. In mine, Aliana brings out an outfit that's made by the game makers. It's a black camisole and dark green capris. The capris feel like cotton. It's an outfit designed for hot weather but dark colors, so the audience won't feel too repulsed by the dirt and blood that's sure to stay on us.

I hug Aliana. "Thanks for everything," I say. "Of course," she says, "I look forward to designing your victor's interview outfit." I smile slightly. I hope she'll get the chance.

An alarm sounds, telling the tributes to get on the launch pads. I walk over to mine and the glass slides around me, closing me in. A couple seconds later, there's a lurch below me and the platform begins to rise. I see the shining, golden cornucopia and dread washes over me. This is it. I hope I can survive. I start to look around and get the feeling we're in a bowl. Rock walls stretch around us. There's an opening to the right of me and it looks like we're on a mountain. Before I can consider what's beyond the mountain, there's a bang. But not a gong. No, this is an explosion. My head whips around as I hear it, so I actually catch a glimpse of the weird District 9 girl jumping off her platform. But she doesn't just jump. She leaps to her left, setting off explosions really close to the person on her left. I see the person stumble backwards. He falls off his platform as the gong rings out. I run forward and grab a bunch of knives to defend myself, but then I run towards him. Because this isn't some random boy. This is Vincent.

When I get there, the other girl from 9 stands over him. I stab her in the back and push her away from Vincent. Some deadly and suicidal plan was obviously in place between them. I realize then that the two girls were identical. They must have been twins, but I'm far from feeling bad. They might have killed Vincent. I kneel over him, leaving myself completely vulnerable. This is probably a huge mistake, but if he's dead, I don't want to live. His eyes are fluttering open and I examine him. Nothing fatal seems to be happening, he's just passed out. "Crystal," he mumbles. "Vincent!" I exclaim happily. "No... something... behind... you..." he struggles to say. I whip around and see a girl running toward us. I throw a knife at her and it lodges itself in her skull. Ares runs over, "What happened?" "Vincent's fine, but he can't fight yet. No offense, but I think I can kill more than you and I have a plan. Guard him, I'll go fight." Ares hesitates. "Please!" I plead. "Okay," he says grudgingly. I grab the life from the girl's body and rush to the opening.

A boy is running through it, so I hurl my knife at him. It strikes him in the back and he tumbles off the mountain. I stand there and kill two more stragglers that escape my alliance in the bloodbath. Once everyone who remains is my ally, I go back to the horn. Vincent is sitting up and everyone else is collecting the goods from around the cornucopia. All ten of us are alive, but most of us are wounded at least a little. Eleven bodies lay around and the bits of the weird girl are still here. The cannons begin. Yes, twelve tributes are dead. Twenty four left. I remember stories of the first 75 Hunger Games and realize that it's basically just the beginning again. But no, Vincent and Ares can come home too. It's different.

We decide to stay at the cornucopia (after the bodies are collected) and wait to hunt until dark. It really disgusts me, but I have to go home.

**-Theuglyduckling492**


	10. Hunting

**I saw that a lot of people read my Clove story. If you haven't and you're a big fan of Clove, you should read it.**

The anthem starts playing. We all look up and see a boy from 3, a girl from 3, a girl from 5, both boys from six, the boy from 7 (who I killed and knocked off the mountain), the girl from 8 (who tried to sneak up on me), the twins from 9, one of the girls from 10, a boy from 11, and a girl from 11. I'm glad the twins are gone, I'm pretty sure they were insane. That's not saying much though, most of the tributes go insane before their death. They were just ahead of the game.

We gather some weapons and decide that we should take turns keeping watch, so we can keep the supplies for as long as possible. Sheen is the first to take his turn and Vincent stays with him. The rest of us set out. Outside of our wall of rock, the slope goes straight down five feet, but slopes gradually after that. About halfway down, trees start growing and at the bottom, it forms into a forest. It's actually a relatively short mountain, but no covering and a career pack at the top is pretty hard to beat.

We head down to the forest and start looking. No one has bothered to start a fire, because it's so hot. We come to a lake and fill our bottles and canteens. I suggest hiding around here, because at least one tribute is sure to come back for water. Cliff and Fiona agree wholeheartedly. The rest of the pack decide we should try it for a little while, but move on if no one shows up. We all find hiding places, Allison and I in a tree together. We stay there, not making a sound, for a long time. I've almost convinced myself to tell them we should just move on when there's a rustle to my left. Allison and I stiffen in our tree.

The boy and girl left from 5 jump onto the clearing. Ares looks up at me, waiting for a cue, but I shake my head slightly. I want to see if they have information first. They run over to the lake and gulp the water. They fill their bottles and stumble over to sit down at the base of our tree.

"I can't believe there're no other water sources!" the girl gasps. "Well there was the spring," the boy reasons. "But that's guarded by District 12 and they still have all three tributes," the girl continues. "We'll just pick them off. Or maybe the careers will get them. Don't worry, Kayla, we'll make it home," the boy reassures her. That's enough for me. I know the whereabouts of three more tributes, and I don't want to know these personally. I nod at Ares, then Allison and I slip out of the tree.

We land on the opposite side of the trunk and we each grab a tribute from behind. Kayla squeals. "Shut up or we'll make it painful," Fabio says, emerging from behind a tree. All of the careers are clustered around us now. There will be no escaping. "What do you want?" the boy asks, "What can we give you?" "Information," I whisper in his ear, "Where's the spring?" "About a mile from the way we were coming," he stammers. "Have you seen any other tributes?" Fiona asks. "No," Kayla says. I slit the boy's throat. A cannon fires. "No!" Kayla yells. She jumps out of Allison's arms with sudden strength. Ares pins her down. Nick and Amiens stand on both sides of her. They get knives and stab her arms. She cries out in pain. "We said no trouble," Fabio says as he stabs her through the heart. A cannon fires. Fabio is starting to scare me.

Our next move is to go to the spring. When we get there, we see the two girls and boy from 12. I glance at Fiona. She gets her bow and arrow. She shoots one of the girls. A cannon fires and the other girl screams. The boy starts to drag her off, but Fabio steps out and stabs the boy with his sword. He leans down to finish the girl. "Wait!" I yell, "Have you seen any other tributes?" "The ones from 5," she says. "We saw them. Anyone else?" I ask. "I saw the boy from 11 run in the other direction after the bloodbath, but no one else. Too hectic." I nod. Amiens stabs her. Another cannon. "Can we just go back?" I ask. The group agrees with me.

When we get there, Vincent and Sheen rush over. "What happened? Who did you kill?" they ask frantically. We recount the events of the night. The alliance agrees that we should go to bed. As skilled as we were at the bloodbath, there are not many sleeping bags left. Luckily, it's hot, so we unzip the bags we do have and lay them out in a mass bed. Cliff keeps first watch. I lie down next to Vincent and Ares. We're all pretty tired after being used to the nice capital treatment, so we end up with three watches. I have third watch. Fiona shakes me awake. I realize that I've rolled over and leaned against Vincent. I get up, embarrassed that Fiona had seen it.

I go sit at the foot of the bags. It's actually mid afternoon by now, but we all need sleep. I think about my kills. In the training room, I was revolted at the idea of killing people, but here I'm doing it left and right. But here, I'm trying to make it home. These people are in my way and I have to push through them. I'm never going to admit these thoughts obviously. I feel like a murderer. I need to get home. I feel like a murderer. I need to get home. It runs through my head until people start waking up.

It's now evening and we decide to wait for the anthem before we go. Eventually, the anthem plays and we see the boy and girl from 5 and the three from 12. "Let's set out then," Sheen says. The cannon stops us. "I wonder who that was," I say. I turn around and see Amiens staggering backwards, a knife in his leg. Nick lying next to him, dead with a spear in his stomach. I whip my head around and see a glimpse of a hand as the person turns the corner and runs away.

Knowing that chasing the murderer is a lost cause, I turn around to help Amiens. We all cluster around him with various first aid supplies. I find gauze in one of the bags. Someone has already yanked out the knife, so I spray it with disinfectant spray and wrap it tightly with the gauze. Amiens is still awake, so we help him walk to the pile of supplies. After talking, we decide it's best to stay here for a while until our pack is less injured.

**Review! -Theuglyduckling492**


	11. A little love can't hurt Can it?

**Hello again! Do you guys like me updating this quickly or would you rather a little more suspense?** **Or is it just getting on your nerves :) Review or PM to tell me, I really want you all to have the best story experience!**

We sit around the cornucopia. A few of us are asleep here and there, but we don't bother assigning someone for watch, because at least one of us stays awake at any point. Our pack is down to nine. We're still a force to be reckoned with, but I can't pretend losing Nick isn't a blow. Fiona sits with her back facing us, sobbing quietly. Cliff sits next to her with his arm around her.

I consider sleeping, but I feel too uneasy after our little security breach. I wonder who it was. Who's left? 18 are dead, so 18 are alive. Only half of us remain in this arena. I know the boy from 11 is alive, but it wasn't him who killed Nick. Half of the tributes still alive are us careers. At least fifteen more people have to die.

Vincent, fully healed by now, walks over to sit with me. "What are you thinking about?" he asks.

"How at least 15 people have to die. How easy it is to get to our hideout. How easy it is for you or Ares or me to die."

"Well, right here isn't exactly the safest place in the world, but for the arena, this is about as good as it gets. And don't worry about dying. I'd sooner die then leave this arena without you."

"But I wouldn't live if you died. I would be stuck between life and death. Wanting to go home, but it never really being home because you wouldn't be there."

"Then I guess we'll just have to make it out together. But I never really knew you at home. You were never anywhere that I would be. I saw you at the Reaping every year. Every year I promised myself that after, when I was safe and you were safe, I'd get the guts to talk to you. But you were always gone when I tried to find you. I never really knew you, but I had this feeling. A feeling that my purpose was to meet you. To find out more about you. I felt like there was some force pulling us together."

"Love?"

"No. Now it's love, but then it wasn't. It was like we had a connection before we met. As soon as I saw you I said, 'There's something about her. I need to find out what it is.' I said that to Ares. We were best friends in the district. I guess it's just some sort of awful fate that brought us all together after the universal pull I felt. The connection there was."

"Do you really love me? Is this real love or just some feeling that you have to protect me?"

"It's real love. Crystal, I love you. And if we get out of this together, no matter how insane we are, that will still be true."

"I want to love you, Vincent. But what do I really have to go by? I haven't met any boys other than you and Ares. I'm so naive and I've been thrown into the arena with a boy who says he loves me. I believe that you really do, but what if I don't? What if this is just some bond that no one else understands? The Hunger Games, I mean."

"Maybe that's true. But now, I'm the only one who will share that bond. Whatever could have happened didn't and this is what we're stuck with now."

"That's true. But I can't say those words until I truly love you. Until every fiber of my being yells at me to claim you as mine. And please, don't hate me when I say this, but I don't think I love you yet. Not enough. Not enough to proclaim it while we stand, taking turns trying to catch the attention of death. We're lucky to be in the final half, but let's try to take it step by step. As if we weren't in the Games."

"I understand. I only hope we live long enough, because my heart is begging me to fight you until you are convinced you love me."

"I'll try. I'll try to love you. But please, just promise you'll forgive me if I fail."

"I'll try, too. Because _'The course of true love never did run smooth._'*"

Vincent goes over to the sleeping bags and falls asleep. My heart longs for him, but I don't dare excite him when I don't know enough about love.

**Did you all like it? I know it's kind of sappy, but there's just got to be some sort of something in here. The * was a quote by William Shakespeare, also the title of the fan fiction. -Theuglyduckling492**


	12. Danger can be the spice of life

I wake up across our clearing. I'm confused for a moment, but I remember what had happened between Vincent and me. I hope he's not mad. What if he really hates me now?

I walk over to the pack. It's already mid-afternoon. A few people are still sleeping, so we wake them up to go hunting. It's my turn to keep watch. I watch them walk down the mountain in the direction of the District 11 boy.

There's not much to do, so I go through all the supplies and organize them. About twenty minutes later, there's a cannon fire. I hope it's someone who's harder to kill and not a little weakling who is no threat at all. I also hope that they got some information out of whoever it was.

I start to feel hungry, so I go to my organized food pile and start eating an apple. When I get down to the core, I throw it off the mountain. It's kind of entertaining, watching it roll down the slope. I'm almost laughing at myself when another cannon goes off. I know it's good, but it's a little frightening. I look around, but I don't see anyone. Then another cannon fire. I'm really on edge now. I don't like being alone, even if it's my pack doing the killing.

No more cannons fire, so I start to relax. The sound of footsteps makes me jump. But it's only my pack returning from the hunt. I thought they would look for longer, but I guess two tributes is good for now.

"Did you find anyone good?" I ask hopefully.

"The District 11 boy. But he put up a good fight. Amiens was too slow with his leg. The boy managed to kill Amiens before he bled out," Cliff answers gravely. I sigh. Not a day can go by without one of us dying.

"What did he do to him?" I ask carefully.

"He had a dart gun. One of the darts hit Amiens in the eye," Vincent answers quietly as everyone else goes to the piles for food. Good, I guess he's not mad at me. But I wish it had been Fabio instead of Amiens. Fabio is giving me the creeps.

Tonight, we go hunting again. We wait for the anthem to leave like always. Amiens, Nick, and the District 11 boy show up then vanish from the arena forever. It's Allison's turn to keep watch and I suddenly feel grateful that I at least had a daylight shift.

We don't actually have a tribute trail to follow, so I suggest going back to the lake or the spring. The others agree with me, so we head off. We get to the spring first, but no one's there, so we decide to fill our water bottles again. After we visit the lake and still see no one, we decide to walk around and see if we see anyone. There aren't any tributes left just walking around, so I stat joking around. "Shut up, Crystal," Ares says, but he's laughing.

We go over the list of tributes again, but no one can remember anyone who's left other than one of the girls from Fabio's district and the girl from District 3. When the sun creeps up over the trees, we decide to just go back. Obviously, no one's near us and we're getting tired and hungry.

Sheen trips over a bush and I can't help laughing. Everything's just so grim that I feel like it's my job to cheer people up. Sheen glares at me, but he's laughing too, so I don't care. "Let's get a move on. We need to come up with a plan," Fabio barks. He reminds me of a military leader that I've seen on one of the Dark Days videos that we have to watch in school. He's really getting on my nerves.

By the time we get to the mountain, all of us are trying to hide our laughter. Fabio is terrifying and mad that we didn't find any tributes. He's more bloodthirsty than any career. Oh wait, he is a career. Why is it that we let him join?

One of these days, Fabio will kill us all.

**Again, I'm updating really quickly, so tell me if it's annoying. I love all of you who've stuck with me this long. -Theuglyduckling492**


	13. Not my best day

**Hola! Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**

I wake up scratching. Everywhere itches. My face itches, my hands itch, my legs itch, my stomach itches, my feet itch. Itch itch itch.

I open my eyes to see everyone doing the same. "What's going on?" I ask desperately. "Everything itches, there must be something on us," Fabio says. I look down. Yes, there most definitely is something on us. Ants. I look like a raisin, there are so many ants on me. Come to think of it, I don't know how I managed to open my eyes. "Ants!" I yell, "Down to the lake!"

We all race to the lake, and when we get in, we frantically scrub our bodies. The ants come off my face, arms, and torso, but they won't come off my legs. I get out and pick up a branch to scrape them off. They come off leaving my legs running with blood. At first, I think the branch did it, but I realize they're mutts. They have to be, because now that I look at them, they're ants with leech mouths. "They're mutts, you have to scrape them off," I tell the rest of my pack.

They all scramble out of the water and scrape their legs clean. Just then, a scream sounds from the trees across the lake. A girl comes rushing in with the same ant mutts on her. She jumps in the water. Fabio stops scraping his legs. He looks closer. It's quiet except for the frantic splashing of the girl trying to rid herself of the ants. "Natasha!" Fabio shouts suddenly. He dives into the lake and pulls her under. They have a water battle sort of thing until the lake turns red and two cannons fire.

Well, there goes District 10.

We have to go to the spring for water now. Everyone does. We might as well make camp near it, so we can pick off tributes. The only issue is that we have no supplies. Just the weapons and packs that we always keep on us. We could go back and get the supplies, but there could be ants all over that stuff. No use risking it.

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Which will most likely be way too soon.

Most of us can climb the trees, because this part of the forest has bigger and older trees. I sit on a branch with my back against the trunk. It's already been a horrible day and we just woke up. The pine trees around me have a pleasant smell and for a moment I wish I were from District 7.

The game makers have actually given us comfortable weather. We stay in our trees for hours, but obviously, there aren't any thirsty tributes. I start to doze off.

Vincent is sitting in the middle of the pond. There's no more blood, but there is a little island. Allison is sitting in a canoe staring at him. She looks at him dreamily. Vincent winks at her. I'm standing on the bank, but neither of them notice me. The Natasha girl from District 10 shows up then. She finds another canoe and rows to the little island. Allison follows her. They all stand on the little island that is only big enough for two people. Suddenly, Natasha kisses Vincent. Vincent then kisses Allison. He alternates between the two of them. I'm fuming by now, so I jump in and start swimming towards the island. Before I can get there, a hand grabs my ankle. The water is suddenly murky, but I can see the dim, rotting face of Fabio. I scream for Vincent but he ignores me. The force of hitting the bottom of the lake knocks the breath out of me. My eyes fly open.

I'm looking up at the sky. Pinecones are pressing into my back, but I can't get up. I feel paralyzed. People are distantly screaming. Vincent is the first over me. "Can you hear me?" he asks. I can, but it's muffled. I try to tell him, but I only manage to open my mouth. I was pretty far up in my tree. I won't do that again if I'm ever even able to.

"I'm...stupid," I manage to say. Ares laughs. Vincent turns on him, his fist ready to punch. "No!" I yell. I jump up and pull Vincent away. Then I crawl back into my tree (to a lower branch) and realize that I can't do anything else. I've regained my breath, so I can talk, but my legs seem paralyzed again. "Are you okay?" Cliff calls up.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I can't move my legs," I call down. I hear someone climbing up. I look down. Vincent sits on one of the branches below me. He looks up. "I'll catch you if you fall again." I laugh, "I hope I'm not stupid enough to sleep again without belting myself in."

I think back to my dream, how mad I was, how much I want him to be mine.

**Sorry if I'm forgetting about the story a little, but I have exams this week, so I don't have too much free time. -Theuglyduckling492**


	14. Gone

I wake up (in the tree) and it's dark. I guess I missed the anthem, but I already know who died. I look down and see Vincent sleeping. We're all innocent in sleep. But truly, what are we? Innocent children.

Everybody is asleep in their hiding places and I feel strangely alone. The clearing is dead silent. I hear footsteps, but I don't wake anyone. The tribute might run away and I can just kill them with my knives.

The two boys from 8 walk into our clearing. They begin to fill their water bottles. I wait until they're finished so I don't contaminate our only fresh water. They stand up and start to walk back into the forest. I throw a knife at the taller of the two and it hits him in the neck. A cannon fires.

The shorter one yelps and dashes toward the trees. I throw another knife, but I'm too late. It catches his arm as he escapes into the trees. I scream out in annoyance. Why didn't anyone back me up? The cannon must have woken them up!

I look below me and Vincent is struggling with his belt. He pulls it off and jumps to the ground. "Hey guys, let's come down and get his stuff."

Cliff, Fiona, and Ares join Vincent. "I don't think I can get down, but I'm with you in support," I say. They laugh. Ares says, "Where are Allison and Sheen?" "Allison?" I shout into the darkness. "Sheen?" No one answers. "Well," I say, "I guess they left the alliance. We're lucky they didn't kill us in our sleep. But we need to stay together. We still need some sort of pack."

"Agreed," Vincent says. They get the boy's supplies and go back to their hiding places.

We sit there almost all day before a girl wanders into the clearing. A spear flies out of a tree and pierces her gut. A cannon. (The sky told us she was from District 3.)

I wonder where Allison and Sheen have gone. The hatred of them deserting us boils up inside me and I wish they would come into the clearing so I can destroy them.

A scream comes from the distance. I organize my knives, but surprisingly, I'm calm. No one comes to our clearing. I sit, ready to strike. A cannon. They were obviously trying to get to the finale. The arena is silent.

The rest of the day is uneventful. The anthem shows, then the District 3 girl, the District 6 girl, and the District 8 boy. I guess the District 6 girl was the one who we didn't kill. I wonder who killed her. I bet it was Allison and Sheen. I want to kill them so much.

**Please review! -Theuglyduckling492**


	15. Think or Know?

**You guys should check out my poll *wink wink*. Are any of you out for summer? Tomorrow's my last day.**

A game maker voice cuts through the silent night. "There will be a feast. A feast at the spring, I'm sure you all know the place. At nine o'clock this morning. There will be delicious food. I strongly recommend attendance." Well we're already here, so I don't have to move. I'll just sharpen my knives and wait for Allison.

A small voice in the back of my head tells me it's not just how they left the alliance. My dream. I'm more mad at Allison than Sheen. She took Vincent in the dream and I get an uneasy feeling that she would in real life, too. But not just Vincent, she'd be all too willing to take my life. That's not saying much, though, considering I'd take hers in a heartbeat. (No pun intended.)

"Should we just stay here and ambush them, then take what's left from the feast?" Fiona asks. "Sounds like a good idea," Cliff says, "What about you guys?" "Let's do it," Ares and Vincent say. "Whatever you guys do, I have to stay here, so whatever," I say. We snuggle back into our tree branches, content with our plan.

After a while, everyone seems to be asleep. "Are you asleep, Crystal?" Vincent whispers.

"No," I say.

"Can I come up?"

"Sure, but please don't fall!"

He laughs, "I'll try not to."

Vincent climbs up and straps himself to a branch next to mine. We sit there quietly for a minute. I get a burst of adrenaline and blurt out, "Vincent, I think I love you."

"You don't have to say that if you don't really."

"But I really think I do. I've never been in love before, but I think this is it." I tell him about my dream.

"Imagine life without me."

I do and my heart pounds painfully. "I don't like to; it hurts."

"How badly?"

"I would feel like I failed you. I would hate walking around and not seeing you."

"Would you want to get in bed and never wake up? Would you hate the feeling of food, because you would think of it as nourishment that keeps you away from death, where I would be? Would you give up on loving all together?"

"I- I don't know. I guess," I stammer.

"Then you don't love me as much as I love you. Because that's where my mind goes when I think of life without you. Even though I just met you a couple weeks ago."

"Well, it's not like I have any experience! You're the first boy my age, other than Ares, who I've met! How am I supposed to know what to think when I think of you?"

"That's just it. You've got to think of these things without experience, know they're true, not just think so. I'd rather you never love me than you love me in a way that isn't real."

"But-"

"Please just wait. If love comes, it will. If it doesn't, it's not meant to be."

He climbs back down and goes to sleep. Why do I have to love a philosopher? But maybe he's right. What if I don't really love him? What is love?

**-Theuglyduckling492**


	16. Who deserves a happily ever after?

**Attention! You have to watch ****_Foxface's Death-Hunger Games Scene-Books2Films contest winner_********on YouTube. It's the best video ever and it made me cry so much.**

Vincent shakes me awake. "We're getting in positions for the feast. You still can't move your legs, right?"

I try bending my knees, "No."

"Okay, that's fine, just get your knives ready and _please_ don't draw attention to yourself. Other people can climb trees and you have no way to escape."

"I know. And you, watch out for yourself. Don't die."

Vincent laughs, "I'll try my hardest."

He swings down to the branch below me, gathers his stuff, and climbs down the tree.

A while later, there's a click. A hole opens next to the spring. A long, white table rises from the ground. The table is basically a mini cornucopia. It's covered in rich, delicious capital foods, a couple first aid kits, and right in the middle is a cake. A three tier, chocolate cake. The icing is dark, dark brown. There are little designs made of thin, blue icing. The cake is covered in plastic wrap. A note is stuck on it. The writing is too small to read from here. All of that is covered by a plastic box, undoubtably to protect the cake from the coming carnage.

Someone darts out of the trees, the boy from 8 who got away. I throw a knife and a cannon fires, but now people know where I am. The girls from 7 come out. One goes to the table, the other to my tree. The girl at my tree gets out her ax. She slams it against the tree. I aim a knife at her, but there are too many branches in the way.

Dread fills me and I try to use adrenaline to move my legs. Nothing, nothing! Cliff comes out and stabs her with his sword. The 7 girl at the table runs over and stabs Cliff. Two cannons. The girl starts running into the woods, but Allison appears and kills her. Allison! I want to get her. She needs to die.

I get one of my last knives and start to throw, but the creaking of my tree startles me. It's tipping. The 7 girl must have gotten to it. It tips and tips until I'm leaning with my back facing the ground. "Crystal!" Vincent yells as I hit the ground with the tree on top of me. Not surprisingly, the tree is really heavy and I hear the bones in my legs crack. Apparently I lost the nerves when I got paralyzed, because I don't feel anything despite the horrific feeling that I should.

Allison is over me laughing and with the little life I have left, I stab her ankle. She yelps in pain and collapses next to me. I stab her in the gut and a cannon tells me that I can relax. But I can't. No, I most definitely can't. I'm in the Hunger Games. We're not finished yet. Will we ever be? I don't know.

A boy I don't recognize stumbles into the clearing. He takes the knife from Allison's body and stands over me, ready to kill me. A cannon fires. Vincent stabbed him. Another cannon, but I don't know who. Obviously not Ares or Vincent because they're standing over me, trying to revive me. They roll the tree off me and I know my legs are destroyed.

A knife flies through the air and lodges itself in Ares' heart. A cannon. I scream. How is he dead? It should be over! "Ares!" I cry. I shake him, trying to wake him from eternal slumber. Another knife. This one in Vincent's stomach. I throw my last knife at Sheen and he writhes around on the ground becoming still. I army crawl to Vincent who is gasping for air.

"Vincent!" I say as tears stream down my face. "Show me your face," he gasps. Vincent gives a racking cough and blood dribbles down his face.

"Why aren't they taking us out?" I cry.

"I'm too close to being gone."

"No! No, Vincent, don't give up. I love you! I know I do!"

Vincent smiles and closes his eyes. A last cannon fires.

"No! I wanted to win, but not like this! I wanted to win together! Wake up! Wake up, Vincent. Don't leave me alone."

I lay on his chest. I remember the cake and go read the note. "To the last one standing..." I murmur. I unwrap the cake and smash it into the spring. Stupid! Three people can come home! And I guess I proved them wrong, because I'm definitely not standing.

The hovercraft comes. They take me to the capital and heal me. They amputate my legs, but I don't want replacements. The rest is a blur. Weeks pass by and finally I'm home. There's a celebration and a Victory Tour. At the very end, I go and lie down in my garden. "_The course of true love never did run smooth,_" I sigh, then I get a knife and run it through my heart. I welcome the fiery pain and run into Vincent's open arms. Peace at last.

**Again, I don't own that quote. Please watch the video at the top. If you do, review or PM me to tell me if you liked it and if you cried. (I didn't make the video.) And for the last time... **

**-Theuglyduckling492**


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